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Published by daveterry
on Saturday, September 25, 2010 at 9:37 AM.

People here in the cities must really enjoy noise. Right now I only hear the fountain outside. It was just recently cleaned out. They are running it daily now. Right this moment there is silence. But it will not last.

Every morning I wake up with bus horns, moped alarms, hacking and clearing of throats (followed by spitting), loud talking in the courtyards, and incessant cell phone ringing.

One local Chinese person told us that they moved to Colorado in America. Within a few weeks they returned. They couldn't handle the silence. They need the noise. Can you imagine? This can't be true with every Chinese person can it?

But I understand perfectly. Since coming here just a week ago I'm bombarded by noise. Even before arriving, while waiting in the airport, I was subjected to a constant loop of the same announcements of flight delays, in English and Chinese. It was loud, it was constant, it was exhausting.

After arriving here, I found that every bus, every elevator lobby, and nearly every store has a TV blasting the same three commercials over and over and over again. I know I'm going to buy those products, but I don't know why.

I've begun sleeping with ear plugs. I leave the window open at night to let the cool breezes in but unfortunately at 4:30, when people start walking through the courtyard, I wake up. I begin to hear their morning conversations with each other and on their cell phones. No one here knows how to whisper in Chinese.